Agriculture

In the '00s, housing built around golf courses was all the rage. Stephanie Simon reports that today's consumer wants to live next to an organic farm, vineyard or other micro-rural setting.

September 14, 2011 - The Wall St. Journal

Jonathan Lerner reports from Fresno, where sprawling development has clashed with agriculture, the region's bread and butter. A new regional plan hopes to preserve farmland and ease tensions.

September 11, 2011 - Miller-McCune

Deadly algae and invasive species are choking the life out of Lake Erie. It recovered from near-death 40 years ago, but the regulations that helped save it last time are under increasing attack.

September 1, 2011 - OnEarth

Edward Glaeser adds "large-scale metropolitan farming" to a list -- which also includes historic preservation -- of barriers to densifying urban development patterns. His argument is that the latter is the greener of the two.

June 21, 2011 - Boston Globe

In this food-focused installment of a series on "great places", Grist's Tom Philpott argues that food system as currently structured creates the opposite of great places.

June 4, 2011 - Grist

Census data shows that Lacrosse, WA (pop. 315) and other small, rural towns are getting smaller. Some blame the Conservation Reserve Program. But Lacrosse and many others aren't going quietly - they're fighting to hang on.

March 17, 2011 - The Spokesman-Review

Agricultural spaces are increasingly being included in housing developments.

February 10, 2011 - Landscape Architecture Magazine

The Global Village Construction Set is a group of farmers and engineers who are developing an set of open-source designs for the forty tools one would need to create a self-sufficient life living off of the land.

February 7, 2011 - Fast Company

A new project is seeking to create the first citywide, comprehensive urban agriculture plan for New York City.

January 24, 2011 - Urban Omnibus

Cities across the developing world are dealing more with rising obesity rates as urbanization occurs, reports TheCityFix's Jonna McKone.

January 13, 2011 - TheCityFix

The process of re-designing California's Delta to protect endangered species, feed the state's farms and serve freshwater to its residents has become further complicated.

December 15, 2010 - The New York Times

Arizona's long-standing open range laws allow cattle to roam freely, but the state is now reconsidering the laws as residents of the West's suburban subdivisions are growing more frustrated by encounters with roaming cattle.

October 12, 2010 - New York Times

A new report from The Los Angeles Food Policy Task Force calls for the government to take steps to increase accessibility to local, healthy food in urban areas.

October 6, 2010 - Good

Cities, not the agriculture heavy Central Valley, are the source of most of the runoff and pollution that enters the San Francisco Bay, according to a new report.

October 6, 2010 - San Francisco Chronicle

A proposed irrigation project near the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru that would divert water away from small villages has sparked violent protests.

September 22, 2010 - Guardian

Decommissioned farms and fields in California are being scouted as possible sited for renewable energy production.

August 12, 2010 - The New York Times

Urban agriculture is not a new idea. Grist's Tom Philpott says the renewed interest in the idea should look for good ideas from its past.

August 10, 2010 - Grist

This piece from Grist looks at Prairie Crossing, a planned community in Illinois that integrates agriculture into its village-like setting.

July 23, 2010 - Grist

10 years after a town in England declared itself a "fairtrade" town, the ethical trading movement has grown to 500 towns across the world.

July 14, 2010 - Guardian

The relationship between agriculture and cities is becoming increasingly important. Daniel Nairn suggests building "garden blocks" within cities to meet community food needs.

July 9, 2010 - Grist